Donna Remembers
by Girl623
Summary: Donna is dying, and feels more worthless than ever before. The Doctor comes back to make her remember just how important she is. Disclaimer: I don't own BBC, Doctor Who, or any of the characters (sadly).


Donna lay in her bed in the hospital, hooked up to various machines. "It'll be a relief when this is over. I feel like a flipping alien," she said to her mother. This tugged at something in her memory, but she ignored it like she always did.

"Don't talk like that, sweetheart," Wilf protested. "You don't really mean that."

"Yes I do, Gramps. I'm tired of being kept alive. I'd rather just have it be over now. At least I'll be with Shaun again," she said a bit wistfully.

"Don't be stupid, Donna! You'll pull out of this," her mother said angrily.

Wilf glared at Donna's mother. "Don't you start on her! But you're a fighter, sweetheart. I know you'll beat this and come back home and-"

"And what?" Donna interrupted. "Go back to being a temp who will never amount to anything? I'd rather die."

Wilf and Sylvia looked at each other. Wilf looked older and more weary than he ever had before, and Sylvia looked like the guilt of the world had been placed on her shoulders. "Donna, sweetheart-" she started.

"Just go," Donna said, turning away. "I'm tired."

"But-"

"OUT. NOW." Donna said, with some of her old spirit.

They slowly got up and walked out the door. But before Donna got the chance to even catch her breath, a young man came in to her room. He looked like a baby giraffe; he couldn't be much older than 25. He was wearing a doctor's coat over clothes that looked like they were from the 1930's. For heaven's sake, he had a bowtie and- was that a fez? She didn't have the energy to deal with him.

"Oi, Giraffe Boy. Out! I'll call the doctor if you don't leave right. Now," she threatened.

"Well, it just so happens that I am the Doctor. And Giraffe Boy?" he said indignatly. "I've been called Chin Boy, but that was Oswin, and she's… Well, she's Oswin. I've also been called Sweetie, only by River of course, but I'd rather you didn't call me that. It would be quite awkward for both of us, given our history," he rambled in a way that seemed so familiar, but she couldn't quite place.

"What _history?_ I've never met you in my life. And there's no way you're a doctor. You don't look old enough to drive, let alone be a doctor!"

"Well, yes… You've never met this face before. I would've come earlier, with the face that you know, but then you would have burned up, and I couldn't have that happen to my best friend. And I'm older than you are! I'm over 2000 years old."

"You're bonkers! Absolutely mad! Are you from psychiatric? How'd you get out and why'd you come here?"

"No, I'm not mad. Well, not totally. It's very complicated, never mind."

"NURSE! DOCTOR!" she screamed. "THERE'S A MAD MAN IN MY ROOM!"

"Shh! Hush, Donna Noble!" he said frantically.

She stopped. "It's Temple-Noble, Giraffe Boy."

"Oh right, yes. How is Shaun?"

Her eyes teared up. "He died. 3 years ago."

He looked suddenly very old and very sad. "I am sorry. I am so sorry."

This sparked another memory that was gone in an instant. Now she was afraid.

He looked at her very seriously. "Donna, listen carefully. This is the most important question I have ever asked you: Do you want to die?"

She thought about shouting at him. That was usually how she avoided uncomfortable questions or conversations that would reveal her vulnerabilities. But somehow she knew he would see right through her. "Yes," she whispered.

Tears slowly leaked out of his eyes. "Okay. Then listen to me. I know you believe you're worthless. But I know you better than most, Donna, maybe even better than you know yourself. I know you're the most important woman in all of Creation. And I am here make sure you know it too."

He placed his hands on the sides of her face and closed his eyes. Some instinct made her close hers too. "I am truly sorry about the last time you remembered, Donna. This time will be much less painful, I promise." He took a deep breath.

A door opened in her mind. Images flashed: Meeting Agatha Christie. Defeating Davros and the Daleks. Freeing the Ood from slavery. The Vashta Nerada in the Library. Saving one family in Pompeii from the eruption of Vesuvius. Meeting Rose in the parallel world. And the DoctorDonna. A few moments of being important and brilliant, then the forgetting; going back to being the temp who felt worthless.

"You aren't as skinny as last time," she observed.

He frowned. "Why do you always say I was so skinny? Rose thought it was fine." This statement reopened a wound that never quite healed, so he cleared his throat quickly.

"Blind, she is."

He chuckled.

"Why aren't I burning up? I should be dead right now," she said aloud.

"I set it on a kind of delay. You have 5 minutes to say anything you need to," he replied, holding back tears.

"Do you have someone? Someone traveling with you?"

"I've got Clara."

"Good. You need someone. And that someone needs you as much as you need them. Tell Mum and Gramps… I love them. And none of this is their fault at all."

He nodded, crying harder than he had ever cried in his whole life.

"Tell them, Doctor. Tell them I love them," she said faintly.

"I- I will," he sobbed.

A bright light filled the room, and she was gone.


End file.
